Ringa Ringa Roses - Nursery Rhyme Full Song ( Fountain Kids ) - YouTube Ringa Ringa Roses - Nursery Rhyme Full Song ( Fountain Kids ) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jun 2, 2014 Ring a Ring o' Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosie" is a nursery rhyme or folksong and playground singing game. It first appeared in print in 1881, but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s and similar rhymes are known from across Europe. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925. Urban legend says the song originally described the plague, but folklorists reject this idea. Lyrics A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo!

Sometimes in Britain, this version is used: Ring-a-ring o' roses, A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! The last two lines are sometimes varied to Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush! We've all tumbled down. Early attestation Kate Greenaway's illustration from Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes (1881), showing children playing the game The first printing of the rhyme was in Kate Greenaway's 1881 edition of Mother Goose; or, the Old Nursery Rhymes: Ring-a-ring-a-roses, A pocket full of posies; Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down. A novel of 1855, The Old Homestead by Ann S.

Stephens, describes children playing "Ring, ring a rosy" in New York.[5] William Wells Newell reports two versions in America a short time later (1883) and says that another was known in New Bedford, Massachusetts around 1790: Ring a ring a Rosie, A bottle full of posie, All the girls in our town Ring for little Josie. There are also versions from Shropshire, collected in 1883, and a manuscript of rhymes collected in Lancashire at the same period gives three closely related versions, with the now familiar sneezing, for instance: A ring, a ring o' roses, A pocket full o' posies- Atishoo atishoo we all fall down. In 1892, folklorist Alice Gomme could give twelve versions.

Other languages Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith, from The Little Mother Goose (1912) A German rhyme first printed in 1796 closely resembles "Ring a ring o'roses" in its first stanza and accompanies the same actions (with sitting rather than falling as the concluding action) Ringelringelreihen, Wir sind der Kinder dreien, sitzen unter'm Hollerbusch Und machen alle Huschhuschhusch! Loosely translated this says: "Ringed, ringed row. We are three children, sitting under an elder bush. All of us going hush, hush, hush!" The rhyme is well known in Germany with the first line "Ringel, Ringel, Reihe" (as the popular collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn gave it); it has many local variants, often with "Husch, husch, husch" (which in German could mean "quick, quick") in the fourth line, comparable to the "Hush! hush! hush! hush!" of the first printed English version.

Notable also this popular variant: Ringel, Ringel, Rosen, Veilchen blau, Vergissmeinnicht, Alle Kinder setzen sich! The translation is "A ring, a ring of roses. Beautiful apricots. Blue violets, forget-me-nots. All children sit down." Swiss versions have the children dancing round a rosebush. Other European singing games with a strong resemblance include "Roze, roze, meie" ("Rose, rose, May") from The Netherlands with a similar tune to "Ring a ring o' roses" and "Gira, gira rosa" ("Circle, circle, rose"), recorded in Venice in 1874, in which girls danced around the girl in the middle who skipped and curtsied as demanded by the verses and at the end kissed the one she liked best, so choosing her for the middle To make your kids more creative, innovative & intelligent Click on the link below :- Ringa Ringa Roses - Nursery Rhymes - English - YouTube Ringa Ringa Roses - Nursery Rhymes - English Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content.

Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Oct 20, 2014 Ring a Ring o' Roses" or "Ring Around the Rosie" is a nursery rhyme or folksong and playground singing game. It first appeared in print in 1881, but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s and similar rhymes are known from across Europe. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925. Urban legend says the song originally described the plague, but folklorists reject this idea. Lyrics A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! Sometimes in Britain, this version is used: Ring-a-ring o' roses, A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! The last two lines are sometimes varied to Hush! Hush! Hush! Hush! We've all tumbled down.

Early attestation Kate Greenaway's illustration from Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes (1881), showing children playing the game The first printing of the rhyme was in Kate Greenaway's 1881 edition of Mother Goose; or, the Old Nursery Rhymes: Ring-a-ring-a-roses, A pocket full of posies; Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down. A novel of 1855, The Old Homestead by Ann S. Stephens, describes children playing "Ring, ring a rosy" in New York.[5] William Wells Newell reports two versions in America a short time later (1883) and says that another was known in New Bedford, Massachusetts around 1790: Ring a ring a Rosie, A bottle full of posie, All the girls in our town Ring for little Josie.

There are also versions from Shropshire, collected in 1883, and a manuscript of rhymes collected in Lancashire at the same period gives three closely related versions, with the now familiar sneezing, for instance: A ring, a ring o' roses, A pocket full o' posies- Atishoo atishoo we all fall down. In 1892, folklorist Alice Gomme could give twelve versions. Other languages Illustration by Jessie Willcox Smith, from The Little Mother Goose (1912) A German rhyme first printed in 1796 closely resembles "Ring a ring o'roses" in its first stanza and accompanies the same actions (with sitting rather than falling as the concluding action) Ringelringelreihen, Wir sind der Kinder dreien, sitzen unter'm Hollerbusch Und machen alle Huschhuschhusch! Loosely translated this says: "Ringed, ringed row. We are three children, sitting under an elder bush.

All of us going hush, hush, hush!" The rhyme is well known in Germany with the first line "Ringel, Ringel, Reihe" (as the popular collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn gave it); it has many local variants, often with "Husch, husch, husch" (which in German could mean "quick, quick") in the fourth line, comparable to the "Hush! hush! hush! hush!" of the first printed English version. Notable also this popular variant: Ringel, Ringel, Rosen, Veilchen blau, Vergissmeinnicht, Alle Kinder setzen sich! The translation is "A ring, a ring of roses. Beautiful apricots. Blue violets, forget-me-nots. All children sit down." Swiss versions have the children dancing round a rosebush.

Other European singing games with a strong resemblance include "Roze, roze, meie" ("Rose, rose, May") from The Netherlands with a similar tune to "Ring a ring o' roses" and "Gira, gira rosa" ("Circle, circle, rose"), recorded in Venice in 1874, in which girls danced around the girl in the middle who skipped and curtsied as demanded by the verses and at the end kissed the one she liked best, so choosing her for the middle To make your kids more creative, innovative & intelligent Click on the link below :- Ringa Ringa Roses - 2 ( Animals ) - 3D Animation English Nursery rhymes For children - Duration: 1:17. CVS 3D Rhymes 10,820,922 views 1:17 Ice Cream Song and More | Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose Club! - Duration: 1:08:40.

Mother Goose Club 13,338,135 views 1:08:40 Ringa Ringa Roses (Ring Around the Rosie) & Many More Nursery Rhymes & Songs for Children | ChuChuTV - Duration: 1:12:00. ChuChu TV Nursery Rhymes & Kids Songs 18,605,290 views 1:12:00 Ringa Ringa Roses | NON STOP English Nursery Rhymes for Children By NurseryRhymeStreet - Duration: 45:31. Nursery Rhyme Street - Kids Songs and Rhymes 1,700,236 views 45:31 BEST 50 English Nursery Rhymes Songs for Children | 80 Minutes Compilation from Kidscamp - Duration: 1:21:49. KidsCamp - Nursery Rhymes 18,994,698 views 1:21:49 Five Little Monkeys and More | Nursery Rhymes from Mother Goose Club! - Duration: 1:05:38.

Mother Goose Club 9,972,268 views 1:05:38 30 Minutes Children's Nursery Rhymes Collection British UK English for Toddlers Karaoke Compilation - Duration: 30:54. Maria's Nursery 4,911,605 views 30:54 Ring Around the Rosie: Metafolklore, Rhyme and Reason | Folklife Today Ring Around the Rosie: Metafolklore, Rhyme and Reason July 24, 2014 by Stephen Winick Kate Greenaway’s Mother Goose or the Old Nursery Rhymes (1881) was the first publication of “Ring Around the Rosie” in English. Her illustration was published in 1881 and is therefore in the public domain. A recent blog post at Londonist describes “Five London Nursery Rhymes Depicting Death and Ruin.” The rhymes in question have diverse origins and histories, but what seems incontrovertible from James FitzGerald’s work is that they describe dark and portentous matters from English history. Or do they? Looking closely at these rhymes, and at scholarship surrounding them, suggests other interpretations.

I’ll discuss one of the rhymes in particular, because it tells us interesting things about folklore and our ideas about folklore: “Ring Around the Rosie,” or “Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses,” as it’s sometimes known. FitzGerald’s text goes like this: Ring-a-ring-a-roses, A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! FitzGerald states emphatically that this rhyme arose from the Great Plague, an outbreak of pneumonic plague that affected London in the year 1665: Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses is all about the Great Plague; the apparent whimsy being a foil for one of London’s most atavistic dreads (thanks to the Black Death). The fatalism of the rhyme is brutal: the roses are a euphemism for deadly rashes, the posies a supposed preventative measure; the a-tishoos pertain to sneezing symptoms, and the implication of everyone falling down is, well, death. This interpretation emerged in the mid-twentieth century, and has become widespread, but it has never been accepted by folklorists, for several reasons.

First, like most folklore items, this rhyme exists in many versions and variants. This allows us to ask whether the specific images associated with the plague occur in all or even most versions. It turns out they don’t. Many versions have no words that sound like sneezes, and many versions don’t mention falling down. For example, Iona and Peter Opie give an 1883 version (in which “curchey” is dialect for “curtsey”): A ring, a ring o’roses A pocket full of posies One for Jack and one for Jim and one for little Moses A curchey in and a curchey out And a curchey all together Moreover, in many versions , everyone gets up again once they have fallen down, which hardly makes sense if falling down represents death. “Posies,” or bouquets of flowers, are almost universal in the song. However, many versions do not make them portable but install them in in pots or bottles, which doesn’t fit well with the plague interpretation.

William Wells Newell , writing in 1883, gave several versions, including: Round the ring of roses Pots full of posies The one who stoops last Shall tell whom she loves best and AFC 1939/001: AFS 02656b01 Burkeville, Texas, 1939-05-16."],mediaType:'A',playerSize:'small'} None of these versions fits the plague interpretation very well, but they do reveal other functions and meanings: the rhyme is often used as a playful courtship game in which children dance in a ring, then suddenly stoop, squat, curtsey (“curchey”), or in some cases fall to the ground. The last to do so (or the one that jumps the gun) has to pay a penalty, which is sometimes to profess love for (or hug or kiss) another child. In some versions, this child then takes up a place in the middle of the ring, representing the “rosie” or rose bush. Newell explicitly states that the game was played like this in America in the 1880s, and European analogs from the same time and later are similar.

In many versions, then, the roses and posies signify what flowers often signify in traditional European culture: not suffering and death, but joy and love. Children playing “Ring Around the Rosie” in Chicago, Illinois, April, 1941. Photo by Edwin Rosskam. Prints and Photographs Division. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/fsa.8a15771 The above observations show that “Ring Around the Rosie” is a “singing-game” or a “play-party song,” both of which are names for children’s dance songs. Plague theorists say it’s still possible that the plague was the original meaning, and that children pressed the rhyme into service for their games and dances. But there are other reasons, too, not to believe the plague story. For example, this rhyme and dance are internationally distributed, and records turn up on the European continent before they do in England. The Opies give versions from Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, among other places. Meanwhile, there’s no evidence the rhyme existed in English until the late 19th Century.

Newell, writing in 1883, asserted that the rhyme was known in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1790, but he gave no evidence, and none has come to light. After this unsubstantiated claim, the rhyme doesn’t turn up in English until 1881 . What evidence is there it survived undocumented since 1665? Title page of The Dreadful Visitation: in a short account of the progress and effects of the plague by Daniel Defoe. This is one of several contemporary accounts of the plague year, none of which mentions anything resembling “Ring Around the Rosie.” Prints and Photographs Division. //hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b41405 The claim that the rhyme is related to pestilence is even younger; the folklorists who diligently recorded the rhyme itself in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries never mention the plague interpretation, although they surely would have had they known it.

The first evidence I’ve seen that people were connecting the rhyme with death and disaster is from 1949, when the newspaper The Observer ran a parody of the rhyme beginning “ring-a-ring-o’-geranium, a pocketful of uranium” and referring to the bombing of Hiroshima. In 1951, we find the first direct reference to the plague interpretation: Iona and Peter Opie state that some people believe the rhyme refers to the plague, but are not themselves convinced. Finally, there’s simply no direct evidence. Even if the rhyme itself remained unrecorded for two hundred years after the plague, various types of evidence might exist: a description of children playing dancing-games referring to roses and mocking the plague, or oral traditions of the earliest informants making the link. As it turns out, though, neither of these kinds of evidence has turned up, despite meticulous day-to-day accounts of life in London in 1665, and accounts of the Plague by people who lived through it .

So today’s scholars want to know: how did the first person who claimed a connection between the events of 1665 and this rhyme find out about that connection, and why can’t we find whatever evidence he or she had? All this makes scholars skeptical, to say the least. In 2010 English folklorist and librarian Steve Roud noted that “the Plague origin is complete nonsense,” and in the 1980s, the Opies (who first recorded and debunked the belief in 1951) wrote: “We ourselves have had to listen so often to this interpretation we are reluctant to go out of the house.” Still, the story only seems to have grown stronger in the second half of the twentieth century, and this itself is interesting to folklorists. After all, the story is itself folklore: a tale that was passed on by word of mouth first, then in writing and online media. And because it is also about folklore, folklorists classify it as “metafolklore”: folklore about folklore.

The cover of Leonard Leslie Brooke’s Ring O’ Roses shows nursery rhyme characters performing “Ring Around the Rosie.” The book was first published in 1922 and the image is therefore in the public domain. If the plague story is folklore, we would expect to encounter it in different versions and variants. And so we do. The two main variants are the Londonist’s claim that the rhyme refers to the Great Plague of 1665, and others’ claims that it stems from the Black Death of 1347 . Within these two main variants, there are sub-variants: in particular, FitzGerald and others say the 1665 rhyme originated in London, while others say it came from Eyam , a village in the English Midlands that was also infected with plague in 1665. One article even claims Eyam children sang it “while dancing around the victims!” There are also innumerable individual versions of this story, each with its own quirks.

Because the plague can infect different parts of the body and cause different symptoms, because people know about or imagine different historical health practices, and because different versions of the rhyme have different specific words, plague stories vary widely in the correspondences they find between words and plague experiences: for some, “a-tishoo” signifies a sneeze , while for others “ashes” signify cremation . For supporters of pneumonic plague, the ring is a rosy skin rash , while for supporters of the bubonic plague it’s a red inflammation around a black buboe . In fact, observing the many different ways in which “Ring Around the Rosie” has been said to conform to real or supposed symptoms, it seems clear that the story did not grow from compelling evidence; rather, evidence has been gathered to support a compelling story. Metafolkloric stories can be either accurate or inaccurate, but in either case, there’s usually a compelling reason we keep telling them, or a deeper truth they express. So one question folklorists like to ask is: “What has been so interesting to people about this story?” That’s a hard question to answer, but we can note certain patterns in the kinds of people who tell it.

It’s very appealing to historians, for whom a glimpse of the distant past in the present is always exciting. It’s especially compelling to historians of the plagues themselves; in fact, standard works about the 1347 plague and the 1665 plague recount the story as fact. Part of the task of such historians is to explain how the plague has continued to influence our lives, and the chance to mention a rhyme everyone knows and connect it to this deep history is irresistible. Secondly, the story is often told by advocates for particular places. Travel blogs spread the Eyam story , while Londonist “celebrates London and everything that happens in it.” Advocates for medical education and even for sanitary sewers have used the song’s supposed connection to disease to suggest that their particular expertise remains relevant to anyone who has heard this common rhyme. Finally, there are many people with a love of the macabre, and nothing is more disturbing than the idea of little children playing to a description of pestilence and death. Our love for the plague story goes deeper than the agendas of a few interest groups, though. Even professors who know it’s not true can’t resist telling it!

Folklorists know better than anyone the fascination with things that are older than they seem, and with “ extraordinary origins of everyday things .” Some founders of the discipline of folklore espoused the theory of survivals , which held that cultural materials such as nursery rhymes preserved information from the past that was otherwise forgotten. To adherents of this theory, a shard of pottery, a riddle, or a child’s jingle could be the key that unlocked the mythology of the distant past, and the folklorist’s task was to interpret or decode the cryptic messages within these fragments. In fact, the irony is that the plague story resembles nothing so much as a nineteenth-century folklorist’s interpretation of the rhyme, but today’s folklorists often express annoyance with the tale’s persistence. Maybe it reminds us too much of ourselves. In any case, we certainly understand its appeal: in the marketplace of ideas, a good story often outsells mere facts. Do you know an interesting story about a nursery rhyme that you’re curious about? Leave us a comment below! Resources Several of the books cited above with links to their Library of Congress catalog records are also available elsewhere as free electronic resources.

The Library of Congress can’t always vouch for the quality of reproduction, the accuracy of the text, or the beauty of the presentation, but they may be useful to our readers. These items are in the public domain: Macabre Mother Goose: The Dark Side of Children's Songs Macabre Mother Goose: The Dark Side of Children's Songs Macabre Mother Goose: The Dark Side of Children's Songs As if we need experts to tell us nursery rhymes are downright creepy, folklorists Iona and Peter Opie confirm it in their Oxford English Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes. They call the tunes, most of which made their way into print by the eighteenth century, "fragments of ballads or of folk songs, remnants of ancient custom and ritual and may hold the last echoes of long-forgotten evil." The rhymes were never actually meant for children; many were political statements, couched in enough nonsense to protect the singer from being prosecuted for treason, and set to a fun melody that was easy to remember and pass along. If children overheard, there was no real concern. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries kids were not treated like kids, but more like "adults in miniature," according to the Opies.

But as the rhymes were published for children in popular tomes like Mother Goose and Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, some adults began to fear that happy songs about murder and fatal illnesses might have a negative effect on the playground crowd. As early as the nineteenth century, authors like Samuel Taylor and Sarah Trimmer tried to alter nursery rhymes to make them more suitable to young ears, worried the macabre nature of some songs might inspire sadistic tendencies and create a race of children akin to The Omen. But these authors didn't anticipate the internet, or public libraries for that matter. These are some of the lyrics from nursery rhymes and other children's songs you may have forgotten, you may have never heard, or may have haunted you for years... "Ring 'o Roses"/"Ring Around the Rosie" Ring-a-ring-a-roses, A pocket full of posies Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down. Familiarly known as "Ring Around the Rosie" this nursery rhyme conjures images of laughing children dancing in a circle among scattered flower petals, not people collapsing into death after suffering a plague. But there it is.

People (like us) who can't leave well enough alone have long been linking the lyrics to this otherwise sweet rhyme to symptoms of England's Great Plague or the earlier Black Death. In 1665, the bubonic plague struck London hard, killing 20 percent of the population within a year. "Ring o' Roses" is said to indicate a rosy rash that spread across the victims' bodies, while "a pocket full of posies" was used to ward off the smell of disease. Obviously, the "ashes, ashes" that come falling down are the remnants of cremated dead bodies. Other versions replace "ashes, ashes" with sneezing ("A-tishoo! A-tishoo!), another symptom of the plague. While it sounds like a horrifying prospect, many folklorists dismiss the idea. After all, the song was published in Kate Greenaway's 1881 edition of Mother Goose over two hundred years after the plague's reign of terror (and even longer since the Black Death of the 1300s). Also, the so-called rosy rash was only present in extreme cases of the illness. Even Snopes calls the idea preposterous .

But you can't unthink it now, can you? "Rock-a-bye Baby" Nothing says sweet dreams like the image of a baby tumbling out of a treetop to his death among the shattered remnants of his cradle, yet the soothing lullaby has become so ingrained in our consciousness we rarely question the shocking nature of the lyrics to "Rock-a-bye Baby," originally titled "Hush-a-bye Baby." Hush-a-bye baby And down will fall baby Cradle and all. But are things really as they seem? Unfortunately, all of the theories are just that — theories. One claims that pilgrims were inspired by the Native American practice of letting their babies be gently rocked to sleep while their cradles rested on tree branches. Another points to an English family who lived in a gigantic yew tree. Then, there was also the political turmoil that surrounded the overthrow of King James II in 1688.

But an even stranger answer lies in an ominous warning alongside the first publication of the nursery rhyme in Mother Goose's Melody (1765): "This may serve as a Warning to the Proud and Ambitious, who climb so high that they may generally fall at last." That poor baby's a goner. "Who Killed Cock Robin?" "Who Killed Cock Robin?" details the murder of the title character and the preparation of his funeral by his friends in the animal kingdom. The original version was printed in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book (1744) and only contained the first four verses: Who killed Cock Robin? with my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin. Thirty years later, an extended version was published to satisfy the warped little minds of children who craved the grisly details of poor Cock Robin's demise—and they were grisly: Who saw him die? with my little dish, I caught his blood. The victim was well-mourned by his friends who carefully prepared his burial; the beetle made a shroud, the owl dug a grave, the thrush sang a psalm and so on.

As for the murderous Sparrow, despite his confession, he was free to kill again until a later addition condemned him to death by hanging. While the cruel Cock Sparrow The cause of their grief Was hung on a gibbet Next day, like a thief Still another century later, H.L. Stephens had to up the ante from disturbing to terrifying. In his Death and Burial of Poor Cock Robin (1865), he illustrates the tale with a cast of characters dressed in Victorian fashions. The creepy part is they have animal heads and human bodies. The result is like some twisted collaboration between Stephen King and Charles Dickens. Our murderer has the face of a sparrow and the upper body of Rocky II era Stallone. A dapper fly with massive wings accompanies a portly spider whose legs stretch up to his web dotted with the corpses of insects. The murder victim is the only one who actually looks like an animal—Cock Robin is the last image shown...on his back with a gaping beak and an arrow through his heart.

"It's Raining, It's Pouring" Long before they could channel their boredom into violent video games, children of the mid-twentieth century used to amuse themselves on rainy days by imagining the deaths of the elderly and putting their fantasy to a jaunty tune. It's raining, it's pouring, And bumped his head And couldn't get up in the morning. He couldn't get up because he was dead, not extra tired from bumping his head in the night. Dead. "Oranges and Lemons" The eighteenth century nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons" starts out pleasantly enough as church bells are ringing around London. Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement's. You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin's. But like many of these other rhymes prove, you're lulled into a false sense of security until things take a nasty turn at the end. Here comes a candle to light you to bed, Here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chip chop chip chop The last man's dead!

Folklorists Peter and Iona Opie pointed out that in the days of public executions, the condemned were led along the street to the accompaniment of the tolling of bells. Far from traumatized, children gleefully reveled in the last verses and even made a game of it. They threatened to capture whoever ran beneath their arched arms as they shouted "chip chop chip chop!" What followed wasn't an execution, but a game of tug of war between the "oranges" and "lemons." ("London Bridge is Falling Down" has a similar game sans the tug of war ending.) "Goosey Goosey Gander" If nursery rhymes sought to teach any morals, respecting elders wasn't one of them. Just like the poor old man who fatally bumped his head on a rainy day, the one who refuses to say his prayers has a similar fate in "Goosey Goosey Gander." Goosey goosey gander, And in my lady's chamber. There I met an old man Who wouldn't say his prayers, So I took him by his left leg And threw him down the stairs.

Some earlier versions of the rhyme actually command the listener to "take him by the left leg and throw him down the stairs" rather than simply recount the story. Thankfully, the earliest recording from 1784 makes no mention of the cruel punishment but instead offers a gift of a "cup of sack and a race of ginger." "There was an Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe" Apparently none of these naughty children who go around murdering the elderly live with the "Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe" (first published in Infant Institutes, 1797). At first glance, this rhyme seems to depict a poverty-stricken woman trying to provide food and discipline for her children. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. She had so many children, she didn't know what to do; She gave them some broth without any bread; Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed. A politically-correct version might have her doling out time-outs instead of whippings, but we get the point.

According to another version from James Orchard Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes of England, things take a creepy turn after the lights go out: When she came back She went to the wright To get them a coffin When she came back She gaed up the stair To ring the bell And down she fell "Three Blind Mice" "Three Blind Mice" is one of the primary examples of a nursery rhyme that wasn't intended for the nursery at all. It made its debut in Thomas Ravenscroft's Deuteromelia or The Seconde part of Musicks Melodie in 1609 in a different form: Three blind mice, three blind mice Dame Iulian, Dame Iulian The Miller and his Merry Olde Wife Shee scrapte her tripe lick thou the knife James Orchard Halliwell introduced the tune to children in 1842 with Nursery Rhymes of England, and made it more kid-friendly. Or not. Instead of a miller's wife, we have a farmer's wife—who should be used to seeing mice, living on a farm and all—wielding a carving knife. Not only have the poor mice lost their sight, but they're about to lose their tails, too.

Nursery rhymes have long been prejudiced against mice, though. An even more disturbing scenario was described in "Three Mice Went into a Hole to Spin." Little rodent tailors have to contend with a cat trying to smooth talk her way into their home. It used to end with the mice singing a wise refusal "oh no, Miss Pussy, you'd bite off our heads!", but a chilling alternate ending was included in Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes (1924): Says Puss: "You look so wondrous wise, I like your whiskers and bright black eyes; your house is the nicest house I see I think there is room for you and me." The mice were so pleased and they opened the door And pussy soon laid them all dead on the floor.

"Sing a Song of Sixpence" In what appears to be a centuries-old prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, a royal maid gets her nose pecked off by a blackbird after his brothers are baked into a pie for the king in "Sing a Song of Sixpence." Even though they emerge from the pastry unscathed—and tweet a happy tune, in fact—their protector is still determined to take his wrath out on someone from the royal household. The maid was in the garden, Hanging out the clothes; When down came a blackbird And pecked off her nose. It seems unfair that the maid and not the baker is his target, but she's given some relief in later versions as a skilled doctor sews her nose back on. In the earliest known version of the rhyme, however, it's not birds that are baked into the pies, but "four and twenty naughty boys" ala Hansel and Gretel. So while the image of a woman getting her nose ripped off by a vicious blackbird may inspire a lifetime of Ornithophobia, it's a less terrifying fate than ending up in the king's stomach (or outhouse).

"Alouette" Speaking of birds, little kids unfamiliar with the French language may sing along with the lyrics to this tune in ignorant bliss until they realize it's about slowly tearing the feathers off of their chirping friends. The "Three Blind Mice" have nothing on the torture this poor bird endured. Little skylark, lovely little skylark Little lark, I'll pluck your feathers off The lengthy process is as followed (with enthusiastic repetitions in between): I'll pluck the feathers off your head. I'll pluck the feathers off your head. I'll pluck the feathers off your beak. I'll pluck the feathers off your beak. I'll pluck the feathers off your eyes. I'll pluck the feathers off your eyes. I'll pluck the feathers off your neck. I'll pluck the feathers off your neck. I'll pluck the feathers off your wings. I'll pluck the feathers off your wings. I'll pluck the feathers off your feet. I'll pluck the feathers off your feet. I'll pluck the feathers off your tail. I'll pluck the feathers off your tail. I'll pluck the feathers off your back.

I'll pluck the feathers off your back. Off your back! Be really afraid of the kids who do understand French and keep on singing. "Eeper Weeper" Mother Goose again proves that yesterday's crime can become today's nursery rhyme. While modern children's songs teach kids how to count and learn their ABCs, children of bygone eras had different needs...like how to efficiently hide a dead body. "Eeper Weeper" offers the bonus of using your existing career skills to do it. Eeper Weeper, chimney sweeper, Had a wife but couldn't keep her. Had another, didn't love her, Up the chimney he did shove her. An earlier version from Scotland includes the delightful detail of mice feasting on the woman's corpse. "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater" found a similar solution when he stashed his cheating wife's body in a pumpkin shell "and there he kept her very well." "Oh My Darling, Clementine" In "Oh My Darling, Clementine," the narrator recalls his lost love—a big-footed miner's daughter who gets a splinter in her toe and stumbles into a river. Because he couldn't swim, he stood nearby and watched her drown.

The song is meant to be light-hearted, but it still paints a vivid picture of Clementine's demise: Ruby lips above the water, Blowing bubbles, soft and fine, But, alas, I was no swimmer, So I lost my Clementine. Percy Montrose is credited with the earliest version of the classic folk ballad, which debuted in 1884, but the song was actually inspired by H.S. Thompson's earlier song "Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden." The 1863 ode to Clementine describes her womanly features like "her lips were like two luscious beefsteaks, dipp'd in tomato sauce and brine." In this version, her lover plies her with wine before she takes her fatal dip into the water. In the 1960s, Bobby Darin added insult to injury when he ended his cover with a fat joke: Hey you sailor Way out in your whaler A-with your harpoon and your trusty line If she shows now, yell... A-there she blows now! It just may be chunky Clementine "London Bridge is Falling Down" London Bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down.

London Bridge is falling down, My fair lady. "London Bridge is Falling Down" references the famous stone bridge that was commissioned by Henry II in the late-1100s. It's a simple song that lists different materials to try to keep the bridge from collapsing (earlier versions claim London Bridge is broken down, rather than falling down). Folklorists have tried in vain to link the famous "my fair lady" to historic women like Anne Boleyn, Matilda of Scotland and Eleanor of Provence. But for horror purposes, we're not concerned with the lady of the song; we're concerned with the man. The watchman to be exact. Set a man to watch all night, Watch all night, watch all night, Set a man to watch all night, My fair lady. The watchman seems to be appointed to make sure thieves don't make away with the precious building materials like silver and gold, but there's also a more sinister explanation for his role, according to the Opies.

Legend has it, living people were built into the foundations of walls and gates "to serve as guardian spirits." In the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, they cite tales of other famous bridges, like Aryte in Greece, which is said to have kept from falling down after the wife of the master-mason was walled in and the bridge of Rosporden in Brittany that was failing until a four-year-old boy was sacrificed. Indeed, children's bodies have been found embedded into the foundations of bridges like the Bridge Gate at Bremen. As far as we know, however, no humans were harmed in the making of London Bridge. ~Amanda Flinner, February 28, 2013 About the Author: Amanda FlinnerAmanda is a freelance writer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a degree in English/Writing from Geneva College (Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania). When she's not listening to jazz and pop standards from the '40s and '50s, she's obsessing over classic movies. She has no musical ability whatsoever except for a short stint as a saxophone player in the sixth grade.

More from Amanda Flinner send your comment Collection Of 12 Popular Nursery Poems or Rhymes – Listmania Tweet Here is collection of few Popular Nursery Poems or Rhymes. Poems and Rhymes are nostalgic memories for all of us. The gentle words and tune in rhyming words interests them and they love the reassuring tune in the nursery rhymes. This is the best form of entertainment for children and an intelligent tool to teach them the simple things in life If you want to teach your child with Nursery Poems or Rhymes here is a collections…. 1. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” is one of the most popular English nursery rhymes. The lyrics are from an early nineteenth-century English poem, it was first published in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection of poems by Taylor and her sister Ann. The English lyrics were first published as a poem with the title “The Star” by sisters Ann and Jane Taylor (1793–1824) in Rhymes for the Nursery in London in 1806. The poem was probably written by Jane.There are five stanzas.

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star’ How I wonder what you are! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky! ” 2. Baa Baa Black Sheep Baa baa black sheep have you any wool nursery rhyme poem famous for its music, Music was first Published for “Baa ,baa black sheep ” was in early nineteenth century making it into a song for children. This rhyme was first printed in Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book , published . 1744 with the following lyrics. There are six stanzas. “Bah, Bah a black Sheep, Have you any Wool? Open your mouth , Ha! Ha! Ha!” 4. Humty Dumty Sat On a Wall The rhyme does not explicitly state that the subject is an egg because it probably was originally posed as a riddle. The riddle may depend on the assumption that, whereas a clumsy person falling off a wall might not be irreparably damaged, an egg would be. There are also various theories of an original “Humpty Dumpty”. It was first published in 1810 in a version of Gammer. There are four stanzas.

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again.” 5. Jack and Jill Went Up The Hill It is is a classic nursery rhyme. The origin of the rhyme are several theories. The rhyme is known to date back to at least the eighteenth century. It was first published s in France. There are four stanzas. “Jack and Jill went up the hill, To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown, And Jill came tumbling after.” 6. Pussy Cat Pussy Cat Pussy cat Pussy cat is very popular rhyme. The eariest record of the rhyme is publication in Songs for the Nursery, printed in London in 1805. The Queen most often depicted in illustrations is Elizabeth I. There are four stanzas. “Pussy cat, pussy cat, I’ve been down to London to visit the Queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, I frightened a little mouse, under her chair.” 7.

Hickary Dickary Duck This is one of the popular rhymes “Hickary dickary duck” .The earliest recorded version of the rhyme is in Tpmmy Thumb’s Pretty Songs Book published in London about 1744, which uses the opening line: ‘Hickere, Dickere Dock’. There are five stanzas. “Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock. The clock struck one, Hickory, dickory, dock.” 8. Mary Had A Little Lamb Mary Had a Little Lamb is popular rhyme of nineteenth-century American origin. was first published as an original poem by Sarah Josepha Hale on May 24, 1830, and was inspired by an actual incident. As a girl, Mary Sawyer (later Mrs. Mary Tyler) kept a pet lamb, which she took to school one day at the suggestion of her brother. A commotion naturally ensued. Here is eight stanzas of “Mary had a little lamb”. “Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow.

And everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went, and everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.” 9. Jingle Bell Jingle Bell Jingle Bell song is complitle based on Cristmass. James Pierpoint who composed the song in 1857 for children. Jingle Bell one of the most famous American Christmas songs. Jingle Bell was originally written for Thanksgiving! “Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is coming alone, riding on his sleigh! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, What fun it is to ride and sing, A sleighing song tonight,” 10. Rain Rain Go Away There are many versions and variations of this rhyming. It was co-written by Gloria Shayne Baker and Noel Regney in 1687. Rain Rain Go Away” was initially recorded by Bobby Vinton. The most common modern version of is: “Rain rain go away, Little johnny wants to play,” 11. Ring a Ring o’ Roses Ring – a – Ring – a – Ring Roses is playground singing game.

It first appeared in print in 1881; but it is reported that a version was already being sung to the current tune in the 1790s. The first printing of the rhyme was in Kate Greenaway’s 1881. There are four stanzas. “Ring – a – Ring – a – Ring rosie, A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!” 12. London Bridge Is Falling Down London Bridge Is Falling Down is a well-known popular nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. The fair lady referred to could be Matilda of Scotland who was responsible for the building of a series of London bridges. There are seven stanzas. ” London bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, My fair lady. Build it up with iron and steel, Iron and steel, iron and steel, Build it up with iron and steel, My fair lady.

Iron and steel will bend and bow, Bend and bow, bend and bow, Iron and steel will bend and bow, My fair lady.” Ring a Ring o’ Roses – History By Zim The classic rhyming game first appeared in print in 1881. Photo Credit: Nursery Rhymes Ring a Ring o’ roses, A pocket full of posies, A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down. Ring a Ring o’ roses, a child’s rhyming game, has entertained children for many years. I grew up knowing it as “ring-around-a-rosy” and often left my friends and I in a dizzy fit of laughter. However, reportedly, the origins of this song and dance routine occurred during a dark time in history. From 1665-1666, the Great Plague of London decimated England. Within London, around 70,000 died, a large percentage of the city’s total population of 460,000. Legend has it that the rhyming game found it’s origins during that event, though it was first printed in 1881 by Kate Greenaway.

Children playing “ring-around-a-rosy” in Chicago, Illinois. Photo Credit: Library of Congress Those that believe the nursery rhyme has its origins during the plague base it on the following verse breakdown: Ring a Ring o’ roses – An early symptom of the plague was a red, circular rash. A pocket full of posies – One superstition was that posies would help protect against the disease, so they would carry the herb with them. It was also used as a fragrance against the disease’s smell. A-tishoo! A-tishoo! – Sneezing or coughing was one of the last symptoms before death. In later rhyme versions, Ashes! Ashes!, replaces this sentence. The bodies of plague victims were usually cremated, so this later adaption still works within the original idea. We all fall down – This last line states the final result of the plague – death. Regardless of its actual origins, whether in a dark period of history or a modern (less dark) one, Ring a Ring o’ roses has entertained children for generations. The words vary from area to area but the end result tends to be the same – mass dizziness and giggles!

Children playing “ring-around-a-rosy” at a Kentucky school in August 1914. Photo Credit: Lewis Wickes Hines/Library of Congress Panati, Charles. Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things. New York: Harper & Row, 1987, 196. “Turn a blind eye” — Definition: To ignore and/or pretend not to see something, usually something you know is wrong. Origins: The origins of this idiom comes from the Battle of Copenhagen between the British Royal Navy and the Danish-Norwegian fleet near Copenhagen in 1801. Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, leading the main British charge, had no sight in one eye [...] “Take the bull by the horns” — Definition: To confront a problem head on, right away, verses sitting back and waiting for it to resolve itself or for another person to tackle it. “Grab the bull by the horns” is also a very similar idiom commonly used. Origins: The exact origins of this phrase is unknown.

Christine Ammer stated that it originated [...] Birth & Death: The Tragedies of Teddy’s Life — Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, endured much tragedy in his life. As a child he had frequent ailments and was often sickly. He also suffered from Asthma and had to be propped up in bed to sleep. On his 22nd birthday, in 1880, Teddy married Alice Hathaway Lee. On February 14, 1884, [...] 19th Century 20th Century Americana Animals California Children Christmas Civil War Family Famous People Film Florida Food Holiday Holidays Hollywood Homefront In Their Words Inventions Korean War Labor Military New York Odd Photograph Photography Presidents Quote Quotes Soldiers Sports The Things People Say Transportation U.S. Army U.S. Navy United States War Washington D.C. Water White House Women World War I World War II WWII Youth Images I do not own the images uploaded here unless otherwise credited. Many of the images on the site are public domain or used fairly for educational reasons. If you see an image here which belongs to you, let me know and I’ll give proper credit.

If you object to a photo’s use, please e-mail historybyzim@gmail.com and it will be removed as soon as possible. © History By Zim 2011 – 2016 As the author of this blog, I (Jess Zimmerman) create posts based upon cited sources. If you use information from here please give History By Zim the proper credit.

Question: "We all fall down" is the last line of what nursery rhyme or playground singing game?
Answer: Ring Around the Rosie